Dreams Coming True
by csinycastle85
Summary: More than one dreams coming true. Rated T for safety. Jac with possible glimpse of Don Flack Jr. and and Cath Willows pairing. On hiatus.
1. The New Arrivals

**Title: Dreams Coming True**

**Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:NY or CSI Anthony Zuiker and CBS do. **

**A/N: Sequel to "The One She Is Meant To Be With" as requested by csiny96 (Beth) and takes place six months after the last story and there will be Jac (Jo/Mac) in here as well. Also any cursing here will be majorly toned down.**

**Beta'd by: TotalCSIFan**

**Genre: Family/Romance**

**Rating: T**

**Chapter 1: The New Arrivals**

**Mentions of: The Greater Good (5.23)**

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-November 29, 2010-

It had been over six months since Stella had told Nick the happy news and now Stella was at the maternity ward at Trinity General awaiting the arrival of hers and Nick's little girl. Stella was thirty seven weeks along when their little girl wanted to make her debut and now began the real waiting game. Jo who was with Stella keeping her company was outside trying to get a hold of Nick and Mac who had been called to a crime scene.

For the time being Stella was in her room alternating between steady breathing, mustering through the pain and thinking about all that has happened. Once she had told Nick the good news they had decided to wait until the twelfth week check-up before telling their family friends. So after a romantic ten day honeymoon in St. Lucia they went in for checkup and once they had a sonogram printout they told all their family and friends together and everyone was equally overjoyed especially Jillian and Bill who look forward to the grandchild that was to join the family; though, that was not the only surprise.

There were changes at the lab as well as they had two new additions to the team. The Crime Lab had a received a grant to hire two new CSIs; first of the Nick. When Nick found out he immediately put in a request for transfer because he knew Stella wouldn't want to move from the city she grew up in and with Nick's stellar record and strong recommendations from Catherine and surprisingly Conrad Ecklie, Sinclair approved of the transfer. When Nick told her right before the start of the week of wedding celebrations Stella kissed him hard. Although she had also made plans to move to Vegas she was grateful for the sacrifice Nick made. The other addition was Jo; when Sinclair found out a case had caused Jo to lose popularity in DC he immediately had her transferred over to join the New York Crime Lab. Now both Jo and Stella shared the assistant supervisor position.

Stella was happy that Jo was now working at the NY crime lab. Though she and Jo have become best friends after they met and had grown closer after they began working together, there was a problem there was something about Jo that bugged Stella though and she had tried to ask Jo her and Mac's no strings attached/flirting only relationship—Stella knew that Mac wanted something more especially now but Stella could tell Jo was uncomfortable with the topic, so she dropped for now.

As Stella continued wait she thought about the biggest surprised of all However, there was an even bigger surprise. Before Stella's sixteenth week checkup they decided for decorating purposes they were going to find out the gender of their baby.

_-July 6, 2010-_

_So during the checkup and sonogram the technician asked, "Okay Mr. and Mrs. Stokes would like you like to know the baby gender or wait till the baby's due date?_

_With a firm resolve they answered, "We would like to know now, please."_

_The tech smiled and said after moving the transducer to the right place and said, "Mom and dad, meet your daughter."_

_Stella and Nick gasped; another dream was coming true they were now expecting a little girl! There were no words right now on how good their life is right now._

Stella was still lost in thoughts when she saw Jo walk with in with her ob-gyn, Dr. Gwendolyn Linden and the nurse, Raeanne Berger came in and were followed by Nick, Jo and Mac. As soon as he cleared the door he ran to her bedside and asked in a concerned voice, "Stella mou, Jo called and told me our little girl is ready to make her debut, how are you feeling now? How far are you?"

Stella tried to smile but had been experiencing pain as another contraction came and went before placing answering, "Nicky sweetie we should wait for the doctor to do a checkup and let her tell us, okay?"

Nick nodded, toning down his enthusiasm a tiny bit as they all anxiously waited for the nurse to finish the vitals. Once the nursed handed over the charts to the doctor, the doctor checked on Stella's progress to update them. Once the doctor had made notes on Stella's chart Dr. Linden said, "Well Stella it looks like you're only dilated at 5 cm so it may take a while before she is going to arrive."

The moment Stella heard Dr. Linden say that she threw her head back. She thought _great just great our little girl once to come and now she is taking her time._ When Nick, Jo and Mac heard what Dr. Linden said they shook their heads and knew it was going to be a long afternoon.

-x-

For the next ten more hours were filled with intense contractions and when it came to deliver their daughter, Stella who normally didn't curse screamed a few choice words at Nick, like "You freaking butthole I am never letting you touch me again". However, following forty five minutes of pushing their daughter came into the world with a healthy set of lungs. Born ten minutes past midnight on November 30th Stella and Nick fell in love with their daughter the moment the nurse placed her in Stella's arms—their daughter was the perfect combination of her parents as she had inherited Stella's olive skin tone and nose and Nick's brown eyes and had tufts of Nick's dark brown hair and Stella knew Nick was already wrapped around their daughter's tiny fingers.

Several hours later after baby had been cleaned, weighted and measured (she came in at seven pounds five ounces and 20 ¾ inches long and scoring a 9 on the APGAR and was brought to Stella's room where she was asleep in her father's arms. As Stella slept Nick quietly whispered, "Baby girl you are the luckiest baby your mama and I loved along with many aunts, uncles and cousin and Grandma Jillian and Grandpa Bill who all love you so much."

It may have seemed like Stella was fast asleep but she heard every word Nick said their daughter. She woke and said, "Nicky sweetie we are going to name our daughter soon we can't keep calling by nick names alone."

Nick looked up and at Stella and smiled, she was right their little one would need a name soon. Soon they had settled on Gabrielle Nicole Stokes. Nick chose Gabrielle in honor of his maternal great-great grandmother Gabrielle Leveque and Stella choose Nicole after her amazing father; with the name taken care of Stella and Nick decided on who they wanted to be their daughter's godparents.

When the visiting hours began all visitors including Jillian, Bill, and Jena and Catherine who came on behalf of the crew in Vegas came by to visit everyone was cooing over Gabrielle (which Jillian was moved when she found out that Nick and Stella had come to an agreement on a name for their daughter after a beloved family member).

Don was holding their newborn daughter, when Stella and Nick made the godparents announcement. Stella cleared her throat and said, "Now this was not an easy decision to make but Nick have come to an agreement that I would choose the godfather and he would pick the godmother and then we would swap next time around. So with that said, "Don, Nick and I would love for you to be Gabrielle's godfather."

Stella briefly paused and added jokingly, "Don remember when you said to Mac that godfather was code word for diaper change? Well now it is on you buddy!"

Don groaned as everyone else gently chuckled and a few minutes later it was Nick's turn to bestow the honor. He turned to Catherine and said, "Cath you have been my friend from the first moment I moved to Vegas and supportive of me all throughout my time with you guys and when I transferred here to New York and I cannot think of a better woman suited to be Gabrielle's godmother than you."

Catherine was bowed when she was asked. When she came out of her daze, she said, "Nick, Stella I am honored to be your beautiful daughter's godmother, thank you."

Right then Don placed Gabrielle in her godmother's arms and Catherine whispered in a low voice, "Gabrielle, you have the two greatest people for parents."

Catherine briefly paused and said, "You know when your Cousin Lindsey meets you, you are going to be so spoiled."

With that the guest of honor continued to bask in the cooing and awing even if she had slept through most of it.

Once the guests had left and Nick had closed the door and placed all gifts in one location he saw baby Gabrielle fast asleep in Stella's arms. Nick smiled and to the best of his abilities he tried to squeeze himself on to the bed and took a nap along his wife and their daughter.

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**A/N 2: Thanks for reading the first chapter of "Dreams Coming True". As always reviews are welcome!**


	2. Surprises

**Title: Dreams Coming True **

**Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:NY or CSI Anthony Zuiker and CBS do. **

**A/N: Sequel to "The One She Is Meant To Be With" as requested by csiny96 (Beth) and takes place six months after the last story and there will be Jac in the story and some excerpts from my two other Jac stories "Push in the Right Direction" to tie it together.**

**Beta'd by: TotalCSIFan**

**Genre: Family**

**Rating: K**

**Chapter 2: Surprises**

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Stella was in the kitchen getting Gabi's 1st birthday cake ready; it was kind of hard to believe that her and Nick's little girl was turning one as it seemed just like yesterday she was a helpless newborn sleeping in Stella's arms. Stella and Nick both got to see Gabi achieve her milestones from her first smile, to her enjoying tummy time to rolling over and crawling and walking. However, when Gabi was cutting her first teeth she and Nick had felt helpless whilst and was crying a lot; the only thing they could do was to soothe and comfort their little girl.

Shortly before she had mastered walking at ten months she began talking and babbling more at eleven months and just before her first birthday she said her first word which was "dada" and was followed by "mama", making both Stella and Nick overjoyed. Soon after she learned to say names of all her favorite people which were everyone in the NY crime lab family and her family in the Vegas Crime Lab.

As she was beginning to put the frosting on the cake Stella heard Gabi giggling away as she played with Lucy and with her older cousin, Lindsey and then pulled in a flashback.

_-Late March, 2011-_

_It was now the end of March and Gabi was almost four months old, how time flew by quickly, Gabi had mastered not only rolling and batting at toys but cooing and squealing. Gabi loved when Stella and Nick blew raspberries on her tummy and cheek. Today she was about to meet her Cousin Lindsey and both Stella and Nick had been getting ready for Cath and Lindsey's visit; it would be Lindsey's first time meeting Gabi aside from the Skype sessions and the pictures._

_Now they were at JFK waiting for the arrival of their plane. Suddenly Stella saw Lindsey wave from a mile away in the crowded airport and she smiled. Stella and Nick headed over with Gabi as she cooed away whilst in her carriage. Once the hellos, hugs and losses have been exchanged, Lindsey was bursting with excitement and exclaimed, "Ok where is my adorable cousin?"_

_Cath shook her head and offered in the form of an explanation, "She has been so excited ever since you invited us to visit back in January. She has a whole luggage full of presents just for Gabi. Come to think of it I do too."_

_Nick and Stella equally grinned broadly knowing how well loved Gabi was. So they got their guests to a less crowded area which was no easy task at JFK, and Stella bent down and undid the buckle on the carriage and gently got her out whilst crooning at her, "Hey baby girl there is someone I would like you to meet."_

_Gabi looked up from her rattle to see the new person looking at her and wondering who she was._

_Once she had Gabi settled in her arms, Stella turned to Lindsey and said, "Linds I would like you to meet your cousin Gabrielle Nicole Stokes or Gabi."_

_Lindsey began cooing like crazy, "Why hello Gabi aren't you the prettiest little baby, yes you yes you are."_

_Although she just met the person in front of her Gabi began cooing up a storm and reached out in front of her signaling she wanted to be held and Lindsey obliged._

_And for the duration of the trip Gabi wouldn't let Lindsey out of her sight._

Although the thought lingered in Stella's mind, she thought of something else that made her smile. Stella and Nick knew the one night stand Don had was with Cath. Both she and Nick put Cath and Lindsey at the same table as Don for the reception which put Cath in Don's line of sight. Now Don and Cath are inseparable, they had been ever since they made it official shortly after Gabi's birth. Stella smiled, she knew that Don would make a great father figure to Cath's college aged daughter, Lindsey. When she saw out of the corner of her right eye on how Don had his arm around Cath, she was happy that her daughter's godparents are happy together and that Don had moved on, two years since Jess' untimely death.

As Stella continued to get Gabi's birthday cake ready, she remembered the day exactly four months ago when Jo finally came clean to Mac and about her fear of relationships.

_-Four months earlier: July 30, 2011 -_

_Stella had gotten home from a long day at the lab. Right now she was the head of the lab as both Mac and Jo were in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina giving presentations at the annual police conference. It had been a crazy shift to say the least, just when they were done with collecting evidence for one case another call came in but like the troopers they were the team all worked hard; as it turned out most of the cases were simple open and shut cases but still there would be an endless amount of paperwork._

_However, the moment she stepped into her home her worries melted away, hearing Gabi's delightful giggles and laughter—hearing that kind of joy was music to her ears and Stella could tell that Nick (who had the day off) was entertaining their princess by alternating tickling her and playing peekaboo._

_Once she had her stuff put away (and her gun locked in a safe) she went over to where father and daughter were sitting. When Gabi saw her mother she babbled loudly and got up on her knees and began a crawling frenzy and Stella bent down to catch Gabi. Once in her arms Stella said in a silly voice, "The tickle monster is going to get you! " and tickled her daughter's tummy and before giving a loud raspberry on her chubby cheek causing Gabi to squeal with joy and blow messy bubbles._

_When the phone rang Nick quickly got up and went to get it. Once he came back he looked perplexed and said, "Stella honey it is Mac he doesn't sound too happy."_

_Scrunching her eyebrows Nick got their daughter out of her mother's arms as Stella took the phone and went to the family room to chat._

_Stella asked without missing a beat, "Mac what is wrong?"_

_Letting out a sight Mac replied, "I made my move and I think Jo rejected me."_

_Stella gasped she really needed to have a chat with Jo but Stella knew that Mac needed someone to talk to—so she chatted with Mac now.__They talked until she heard a knock on the door, Mac told Stella to hold on while he went to get the door. Suddenly Stella heard Mac sternly say out loud, "What do you want Jo?"_

_Stella could barely make out what was being said but she did hear Jo say remorsefully, "May I come in? I want to explain my actions earlier." before Mac said, "I will call you back later."_

Stella now knew the root cause of Jo's fears: it was all due to what she went through with her ex-husband, Russ Josephson. Now seeing how they were closer than ever and seeing Mac and Jo discreetly holding hands and exchanging looks from the side of her left eye made her happy.

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**A/N 2: Thanks for reading chapter 2! As always reviews are appreciated!**


	3. More Surprises

**Title: Dreams Coming True**

**Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:NY or CSI Anthony Zuiker and CBS do. **

**Author's Note: First of all I want to sincerely apologize for not updating at all, I had a bad case of writer's block and on top of that I suffered an injury and lost my hearing for a week. So hopefully this chapter will make up for it. This chapter will include a little bit about everyone, including Gabi. **

**Big thank you to TotalCSIFan for helping with a part of this chapter! You Rock!  
**

**Beta'd by: TotalCSIFan**

**Genre: Family**

**Rating: K**

**Chapter 3: More Surprises**

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-Twenty months later: July, 2013-

It had been another successful Stokes' 4th of July Family Reunion and Stella, Nick and Gabi were at the airport awaiting their flight back to New York. Gabi loved every single moment of the gathering because she was still the youngest of the grandkids; at nearly three years old she recognizes the whole alphabet, is able say more words, become a chatterbox and was able to charm anyone and everyone nearby. According to her pediatrician, Gabi was developing on schedule and can do many things such as repeat her name, dress herself, balance on each foot for a second, and brush her teeth by herself.

At this point Gabi also liked to help with chores so both Stella and Nick made it easy for Gabi and praised her when she got the task done. Although there are kids who are aggressive and easily temperamental at her age, Gabi was the opposite, she was all smiles and giggles, affable and a gentle little girl who knew when to comfort someone by giving them a hug; she was also not easy to anger—Stella and Nick were both lucky because it was as if she had dodged the terrible twos which was good because he knew how Lindsey was during her terrible two's stage.

Now as Nick watched Stella and Gabi move around on the Skyline at DFW many thoughts went through his mind one of which was Catherine and how she came by to visit Lindsay at NYU and spent time with Don—both he, Stella and the rest of the team knew how deeply in love Don was with Catherine and vice versa.

Nick remembered when Catherine and Lindsey came by to visit Manhattan in late April and was at the lab because Don was called in for a quick assistance.

_Three months earlier: April 2013_

_Catherine came with Don to the lab because Mac Taylor had requested his presence to help with a detail in a case. Catherine walked around and somehow ended up at the break room and saw Nick there taking his break and drinking coffee whilst reading a magazine that was there. Catherine walked over to where Nick was and slide into the chair across from him and said, "Hey Nicky." _

_Nick looked up and smiled and went to give Catherine a hug. After sitting down he said, "Hey Catherine. Wait I thought you weren't coming till next week."_

_Catherine said, "Well you know it is slow at the lab and with all the time I accumulated Ecklie told me I HAD to take some time off. _

_Pausing briefly Catherine asked, "How's Stella? How is my precious goddaughter? She is getting so big." _

_"Both Stella and Gabi are doing well, you should come visit, Gabi misses you a lot, she always asks for 'Auntie Cat' 'Auntie Cat' and yeah I know what you mean time seems to fly by so quickly. You and Don should come by for a visit I know Gabi would love it." _

_Catherine felt her heart soar, she loved her goddaughter to death and along with Lindsey would do anything to protect them._

_Catherine added sincerely, "That's good, I'm so glad you found someone who makes you so happy." _

_This got Nick to bring up an important question, "How is it going with you and Don, everything is still good right I don't need to have a talk with him do I?"_

_Catherine smiled she loved how Nick was still very protective of her when it comes to dating. She placed her hand on his and said, "We are fine and no you don't need to. I know you care about me especially what I went through."_

_Nick nodded; he had heard it all: with her dating bad boys in high school, college, married to Eddie, the fling with the jerk Chris and run in with the scumbag Adam Novak. _

_Nick added, "Okay I get the point, but you let me know if Don is mistreating you even a little bit, you got that?" _

_Nick's cell phone started buzzing indicating he had a text message. Seeing that it was a call to a scene he said to her "I got to go, but know that I along with all the team members are here for you."_

_The friends smiled at each other before Nick walked out of the room. _

Nick was brought out of his thoughts when the Skyline came to a stop. Once both he and Stella each took Gabi's hand they disembarked the Skyline and went to Auntie Anne's Pretzel for a snack before heading over to the gift shop to buy souvenirs—or as Gabi liked to say 'pwresents' for her family in New York. Whilst Nick watched Gabi and Stella pick out presents he thought about the conversation he had with Don prior not too long ago

_-Three weeks earlier: June, 2013-_

_Taking a quick break Nick and Don are at a diner during their lunch break. Once seated Nick asks_

_"So Don what do you want to talk about?"_

_Don responded looking Nick in the eye "Well Nick since you are Catherine's best friend I want to ask for your approval and blessing to ask Catherine for her hand in marriage. And before you ask, yes I have asked her mother and I love her and Lindsey so much that I would do anything for them."_

_Nick nodded and he added, "You do remember how badly she has been hurt in her past relationships and how it has affected Lindsey. If I hear one word or sense that you are hurting or have hurt her or Lindsey in any way you better watch your back because not only I will hunt you down but the team in Vegas will too, you got that?"_

_Don nodded solemnly and answered, "Nick you and the team in Vegas have my word that I will treat both Catherine and Lindsey with the utmost respect they deserve."_

_Nick smiled and put out his hand, Don took it and Nick said, "Welcome to the family."_

Hearing Gabi's giggles brought Nick back to reality; when he saw the gift that his daughter and Stella had picked out for Mac and Jo it made Nick smile. Gabi loved everyone who knew her but there were two people she absolutely adored and they were her Uncle Mac and her Auntie Jo. One thing that he, Stella and the rest of the team knew that Jo didn't know was that a happy event was about to happen: Mac was about to ask Jo the all-important question and knowing how much Mac and Jo loved each other Jo's answer would a no brainer.

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**A/N 2: Thanks for reading Chapter 3. As always reviews are appreciated!**


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